According to an agreement signed on Wednesday, the Transportation Systems Group (TS) of Siemens will team with Zhuzhou Electrical Locomotive Works (ZELW), its domestic partner headquartered in Hunan Province, to supply up to 28 six-car trains for the 22-kilometer Pearl Line II, the second phase project of China's first elevated light rail system.

An option to supply 10 more trains to extend the local Metro Line I was also granted to Siemens and ZELW.

According to the contract, all but the first two trains for Pearl Line II will be manufactured locally at ZELW. Siemens will supply the electronic equipment and a variety of mechanical components.

The first two trains will be built at the Siemens's Vienna plant, however.

"This agreement will help domestic rail transit manufacturers like ZELW upgrade their technologies and improve their competitive edge," said Chen Fengyu, chief engineer of Shanghai Metro Construction Corp Ltd.

The German company beat France's Alstom and Canada's Bombardier to clinch the deal.

Construction on Pearl Line II began late last year. Investment is estimated to reach 13 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion).

Delivery of the rolling stock will start in 2004 and end in the mid-2006.

By 2005, when construction is due to be completed, the new light rail line in the city's Pudong New Area will have been connected with the already-built 25-kilometer first phase to the west. They will form a loop.

Rail transport is the best way to ease traffic snarls, engineers said, and the option is most worthy of serious investment.

The city now has 65 kilometers of rail in operation, including its major subway lines, Metro Line I and Metro Line II, as well as Pearl Line I.

Shanghai plans to build up to 10 rail lines totaling 212 kilometers during the 2001-05 period, increasing the percentage of passengers carried by public transportation in the city from 3 percent today to 20 percent.

Apart from work on Pearl Line II, the city's efforts during that time will extend Metro Line I 12.5 kilometers north of Taihe Lu and Metro Line II about 11 kilometers west, from Zhongshan Park to Hongqiao International Airport, local authorities said.

Also, construction of a 17-kilometer light rail line between Minhang Town and Xinzhuang Town will be completed this year. The suburban line, scheduled to start operating next year, will use the US$28 million local joint venture of Alstom as its vehicle supplier.

The city's first two metro lines were built as pilot mass transit projects by a consortium that included Siemens and Bombardier and started operating in 1995.

Following the central government's requirement that foreign companies find a domestic partner to cut the cost of rail construction, Alstom joined hands with Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Works and won the deal to provide trains for the local Pearl Line I.

( March 29, 2002)